Sonisphere UK cancelled again – 2013 edition pulled

Another UK festival has announced it is cancelling its 2013 edition and will not return until 2014.

Sonisphere was one of the higher profile casualties of the 2012 festival season, with the UK date of the metal fest being pulled in March, despite most of its line-up having been confirmed. But at the recent UK Festivals Conference, the boss of the festival’s promotor, Kilimajaro Live’s Stuart Galbraith, said plans were well underway for Sonisphere UK to return next summer, calling the 2012 cancellation a “hiccup”.

But then earlier today a message was posted on the festival’s Facebook page saying that the 2013 edition would not go ahead either, mainly because of a lack of suitable headliners. The message reads: “Team Sonisphere is sad to say that it has now been confirmed that Sonisphere UK will take a year off in 2013. The three Sonisphere Festivals to date at Knebworth in 2009/2010/2011 set a very high standard and indeed 2011 was voted the best festival line up by the UK Festival Awards. We think it is really important that the event only runs when it has a line-up that sets it apart from the competition whilst also carrying a ticket price that allows us to offer real value for money to the music fans”.

It continued: “We were hoping to do that in 2013 but unfortunately it wasn’t possible to fulfil both aims with the principle problem of there being a lack of available headliners of the calibre of previous festivals at Knebworth. We made offers to over a dozen major artists but for various reasons none of these offers lead to securing a strong bill”.

Sonisphere dates in France and Italy will still go ahead next summer, while plans are already underway for a UK edition in 2014. After a tricky year for the British festivals market, Sonisphere is the third UK festival this week to confirm it will not stage a 2013 edition, following No Direction Home and Summer Sundae.